Jumping the hurdles

I am going to be getting the corrected paperwork, and updated photos that were requested in order for J. to be able to submit our dossier to the Adoption Officials, today.

We are praying that everything will go smoothly from here on out - and that we won't hit any more bumps on the road.

We did get word of an additional fee that's been added to our costs.

Nothing huge, but about 250 additional euros for travel costs to Olive's home town and back while were there.

But, we're completely trusting God for all of it - so 1 or 1000 additional euros, we are hanging on to our faith, it will be provided.

Talking with another mom who has adopted from Olive's orphanage, and has seen Olive, makes me even more hopeful to still travel this year.

Her daughter had many more health issues than previously thought by the orphanage and adoption staff once they got home. And the doctors wanted to operate on another mothers child for heart issues that simply wasn't warranted when they got home...

Given Olive's pale coloring and seemingly lethargic/distant look in all her pictures, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we were in the same boat, and could be facing a lot more health issues than we're being told.

It's not the orphanage staff, doctors, or facilitators fault - it's simply the lack of up-to-date and precise medical information and technology.

Either way, I'm praying she doesn't have to spend another freezing February in that cold crib.

A few more bumps

I got an email this morning that I'd prefered to not recieve.

We have a few more small bumps along the way.

And surprisingly I'm not freaking out at all - and have total peace that God is working, and all will be done in HIS timing!

We have some birth-date errors in our home study and biography (that we didn't notice yet! bummer) that have to be fixed, and need to re-send some pictures.

I'm praying that Char (our social worker) Will be able to fix those errors and reprint our homestudy VERY QUICKLY.

Once these things are fixed, we will be able to submit our dossier for approval from the adoption officials!

Roller Skating.

we took Ethan roller skating tonight after a tremendous amount of begging on his part - he spent about 5 minutes on the floor, and the rest of it saying he was too scared to fall down...

Praying....

We were really hoping to travel this year.

And we've come so close to the wire that every little thing may literally make the difference between travel this year or next.

Olive's social worker had done some of her paperwork incorrectly.

Luckily our facilitator will be meeting with her this coming Monday to make sure those things are corrected, and that all the paperwork is done correctly.

We're praying that she will do all of Olive's paperwork correctly, and quickly.

We are also waiting on our dossier to be translated, and submitted for approval by the adoption officials.

The timing of this, along with Olive's social worker will determine if our daughter will come home before the Holidays - which we so obviously desperately want.

We are asking the Lord to have his hand in every detail - and petitioning that our daughter home before the year's end.

Getting attacked again...

We are under attack over here... again.

My computer (which my business depends on) is going wonky.

I need to at least replace the screen, which will cost roughly $100.

Our Van has decided not to run anymore... We've already spent $125 on what we thought would be a sure fix... didn't work. Not sure what's going to happen there.

So, we are selling our truck, to try and make ends meet, and put the extra money towards our adoption.

But we have to fix the windshield, wipers, tailpipe, and muffler to be able to sell it.

I am suffering from either a congestion-free flu, or mono...

I'm near positive it's mono -- which has put me greatly behind on my "to-do" list.

Which in turn is stressing me out more.

Unfortunately rest is hard to come by with a 2.5 year old and 1.5 year old during the day.

And also unfortunately, money is not easily come by either, considering we have already cleaned out our savings, all our extra money in the budget has gone to go to Olive, so we're living paycheck-to-paycheck right now.

Life if not fun right now.

It is there!

Our dossier is in the hands of our facilitator!

She is giving it to the translator to translate!

We are waiting to hear from Olive's social worker, to see how far along her paperwork is.

Once we know that, we will have a better estimate as to when we might travel.

Praise God!

Now only if we can come up with that 6k :)

I think we'll be selling our second car here soon, and be back to our 1-car life-style again...

All for our girl!

Fun day failed...

We drove the kids all the way to Robinettes for a horse ride, after hyping it up all morning.
And the horses weren't there.
It was hardly drizzling and sunny most of the time we were there... but apparently it wasn't good enough weather for them.
We did end up giving Evelyn a fresh nectarine (after Ethan refused it)...
And she really enjoyed that.


We ended up salvaging our fun day by getting fresh doughnuts and taking Ethan to Chuck E Cheese's for the first time.